Bangladesh v Zimbabwe - It's time to focus with enough vigour and sizzle

The Zimbabweans are here for a five-match One-day (ODI) series and I can say with confident that the Tigers are in a better shape than the visitors. The Bangladeshi boys are more confident than the Zimbabweans and after the recent Banglawash over the Kiwis; the Tigers are determined to repeat the same feat against Zimbabwe whose current status is not pretty good.

But in cricket is a game of glorious uncertainty anything and in the limited-overs version the uncertainties happen more and which the Bangladesh must keep in their minds. In cricket or any other sports, the underdogs are a dangerous species. They can gift shockers at any moment and in the history of limited-overs cricket such species are the masters of devouring the best in no time.

As for example, the Tigers started the ODI series against New Zealand as the underdogs and according to many, they were no-hoppers but, the way the series had ended will remain as One-day cricket’s most eventful series ever. So, it’s hard to undermine any of the underdogs in the limited-overs versions. Such formats are ideal for the underdogs to trigger shocks and in that sense, Bangladesh must be well aware of Zimbabwe.

Every series is a new series; every game is a new game. All the glories of the past might be erased from the fans’ memory bank by a defeat at the hands of an underdog team and for which, no lackluster body language and over-confidence must be allowed.

The Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) have announced the team for the ODI series. The good thing is the return of Mohammad Ashraful in the side. Ashraful had a terrific domestic season and the achievement of gold medal in the Asian Games cricket as a captain surely has lifted his confidence. The nation wants Ashraful to fire.

But the omission of Shahriar Nafees doesn’t make any sense. Nafees has the reputation of slicing the Zimbabwean attack into pieces. He had also fared well against the Kiwis in the recently concluded ODI series in October. But in contrast, Junaid Siddiqui was shocking against the Kiwis with scoring just 71 runs in five matches and as a fielder Junaid was shoddy. Why Junaid was preferred over Nafees remains a moot question.

The BCB have still not clarified who will be the captain against Zimbabwe. I think they need to select a permanent captain. It is very important for Bangladesh to play under a permanent captain and I think, Shakib is the best man to lead the team. If Mashrafe has injury scares then I don’t find any reasons behind his selection. We can’t be emotional regarding selection policies.

The Zimbabwe team management are considering themselves as the underdogs. They are keeping themselves in touch with the reality but it’s not that they would surrender without a fight. One must not forget that this Zimbabwe side has defeated India and Sri Lanka at their home this year in the Micromax tri-nation tournament four months ago. Even though they were beaten heavily in the third ODI against South Africa but in the previous two ODIs they really scared the Proteas in the three-match ODI series last month.

Men like Brendon Taylor, Hamilton Masakadza, Raymond Price and Elton Chigumbura can crank up a surprise anytime. Certainly, since the last home series in 2009 a win by a handsome margin of 4-1 against Zimbabwe the Tigers have come a long way to claim themselves amongst the better sides in world cricket but, they must not take Zimbabwe lightly.

The series against New Zealand is past. It’s time to focus on a mission with enough vigour and sizzle.